Online integration with various communication devices is creating new realms for advertisers and other content providers. Marketing campaigns in the past have been mostly focused on television, radio, paper media and internet. Today's advertisers are seeking a more tailored and personalized approach. Rather than bombarding the masses with general interest ads, the advertisers are slowly becoming more focused on selected groups of people that have a common interest in a particular subject, product or service. This is proving to enable both higher returns on investment (ROI) on the part of the advertiser, as well as less annoyance and frustration on the part of the consumer.
In this context, some industry rivalries are beginning to emerge between network operators (e.g. T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, etc.) on the one hand and internet service providers (ISPs), online ad vendors and various other content providers on the other. While ad server vendors, such as Google, have shown a very successful business model in online advertising, network operators have played a much less significant part in targeting ads. Yet network operators are uniquely and favorably positioned in the marketplace for obtaining various information and managing diverse relationships between a multitude of players. In addition to having access to the user's preferences and data, the operator also controls many aspects of the communication transmission in the network. For example, the network operator owns the mobile cellular network and its hardware elements (SMS-C, MMS-C, etc) as well as the information regarding its subscribers. As new services and products emerge, it is desirable for network operators to manage and monetize their position in order to continue to be able to compete in the future.
One area of potential improvement is in this environment arises from the need for the network operator to integrate the various targeted advertisements with the existing message traffic, such as SMS and MMS traffic that is already flowing throughout its network. For example, it is desirable that marketing and advertising does not interfere with existing traffic flow, does not overload the system, cause latency or create other potential problems.